The calming melodies and rhythms of lullabies, or canciones de cuna, help babies fall asleep and provide early exposure to language. Older Spanish learners can also benefit from lullabies. They can sing to little sisters and brothers and use lullabies as a part of their imaginative play. Duérmete mi niño is probably the best-known Spanish lullaby.

We have also grouped all our favorite Spanish songs for kids by theme, so you can keep singing with your little ones.

Spanish Lullaby for Imaginative Play

This Spanish lullaby is an excellent addition to imaginative play for toddlers and preschoolers. Encourage children to sing this Spanish lullaby to dolls and toy animals as they play. In my preschool classes, it is one of the first songs we sing as we talk about day and night. We all rock small stuffed animals and put them to sleep.

You can use the words of Duérmete mi niño for lots of imaginative play besides rocking the babies and putting them to bed. It will depend a little on the version you sing, but here are a few possibilities.

– Call your dolls and stuffed animals mi amor and mi sol as you play. – Use the lines from the song in your games and ask questions with them: Mi niño quiere que lo lleve a pasear en coche. ¿Qué quiere tu niño? Tengo que lavar los pañales. ¿Qué tienes que hacer? – Act out the parts of the song. Take the babies for a drive or feed them atole.

Duermete mi niño is probably the best-known lullaby in Spanish. You can hear a lovely version by Cantoalegre featuring the Colombian artist Juanes in this video. The lyrics for this version are below the video.

There are other verses and versions of this Spanish lullaby. Like many traditional songs, the phrases all fit the rhythm and melody, so they are combined in different ways. You can also sing Duérmete mi niña to a little girl.